t8X\ 


Duke  University  Libraries 

Conversation  in 
Conf  Pam  12mo  #821 

DTTD3mit,X 


CONVERSATION  IN  A  TENT. 

BY   A.    SHERWOOD,   D.    3>. 


I  had  a  conversation  with  a  private  in   the   47'.h    Georgia 
iment,  something  like  the  following:  First,  I  related  an  an- 
ecdote which  I  had  heard  from  a  Revolutionary  eoldicr.     Ad 
officer  was  called  as  a  witness  at  a  Court-3Iartial,  to  whom  the 
Jud;  U  Come  forward  and  tell   us   what  you  know. — 

Make  way  i'  sdldieT  to  give  in  his  testimony;"  who  an- 

Bwered,  "I  am  not  a  soldier,  but  an  officer.'1  "Well,"  re- 
plied t\\2  Judge,  "  mahe  way  for  that  officer,  who  is  not  a  sol- 
dier" much  to  the  merriment  of  the  company  and  chagrin  of 
the  minltrith  epaulettes. 

I  address  you  as  soldiers,  as  men  that  have  not  sought  of- 
fice— as  men  that  will  fight,  but  never  run  from  the  enemy — . 
as  those  that  love  their  country,  and  will  contend  for  its  rights 
to  the  death,  though  you  wear  no  lace  or  gold  on  your  uni- 
form :  you  are  privates,  but  men  of  strong  arms  and  courageous 
hearts,  and  in  the  language  of  Burns'  song,  "  a  poor  but  hon- 
est sojer."  Home  and  friends  are  dear  to  you,  and  rights  and 
interests  are  precious,  to  be  watched  with  sleepless  vigilance  : 
bat  all  these  are  not  of  so  much  importance  as  the  soul.  Have 
you  thought  of  this  ?  Have  you  cared  for  the  interests  of 
your  undying  spirit  ?  Have  you  ever  been  concerned  about 
your  future  condition,  whether  it  will  be  happy  or  miserable  ? 
Your  love  of  country,  your  patriotism,  is  not  questioned.  If 
the  invader  comes,    he  will  pass  your  threshold  only  orer 


2  CGIiVERSATION    IN    A   THS?. 

your  lifeless  eorpse.  This  is  right  -an J  praise- worthy  j  but 
patriotism  cannot  be  substituted  for  religion,  nor    save    the 

t'Oul. 

"You  say  a  soldier  cannot  be  religious?"  Cornelius,  a 
Centurion,  in  charge  of  100  Roman  soldiers,  was  a  derout 
man,  one  that  feared  God,  and  prayed  to  God  always.  [See 
Acts  10th.]  God  heard  his  petitions,  and  his  alms  were  had 
in  remembrance  before  his  Maker.  More  temptations  assailed 
him  than  can  possibly  affect  you ;  yet  he  was  a  christian,  and 
his  piety  approved  of  God.  Gen.  Havelock,  in  command  of 
troops  in  India,  during  the  mutiny,  when  thousands  of  British 
soldiers,  women  and  children,  were  massacred,  was  a  man  of 
devotion.  He  used  to  pray  with  his  regiment,  and  ia£k  to 
them  on  religious  subjects;  many  of  whom  became  pious. — 
AVhen  any  hazardous  work  was  to  be  accomplished  any  dan- 
gerous expedition  undertaken,  "  Send  Havelock  \s  saints  " 
was  the  common  word  of  commard,  for  it  was  known  they 
were  the  most  courageous  men  in  India.  Gen.  Stonewall 
Jackson  is  represented  as  a  pious  man,  and  we  arc  told  that 
he  offered  public  prayer  at  Richmond  some  few  weeks  prior 
to  his  successful  battles  with  Banks,  Fremont  and  Shields. — 
Soldiers  can  be  religious,  and  all  of  them  ought  to  be.  If 
officers  in  high  position  can  find  time  for  prayer  and  religious 

duties,  much  more  can  a  private  soldier.  Does  not  Gen. 
Beauregard  ascribe  the  victories  botli  at  Manassas  and  at  Shi- 
loh  to  the  interposition  of  the  Almighty  ? 

"  Religion  is  laughed  at  in  the  camps."     You  may  hav« 


CONVERSATION   IN   A  TENT. 


been  laughed  at  in  school,  but  did  that  prevent  you  learning 
your  lessons,  or  render  education  valueless  ?  So  in  the  camps, 
duties  will  not  hinder  you  from  -.  ■;!::„-  to  understand  some- 
thing about  the  science  of  salvation.  A  laugh  or  sneer  does 
not  kill  as  docs  a  bullet,  nor  do  th<*j  destroy  the  truth  of  the 
Bible,  the  value  of  the  soul,  nor  the  hopes  of  the  good  man 
in  God's  promises  to  save  all  that  fear  and  obey  Him.  No 
wise  man,  no  true  soldier,  mocks  at  religion. 

"  Soon  as  the  war  is  over,  I  mean  to  be  religious."  You 
may  not  live  to  see  that  day ;  you  may  fall  in  'he  first  battle, 
or  by  disease,  before  you  come  in  contact  with  the  enemy : 
hence,  be  prepared  for  death,  or  you  are  lost  forever.  Now, 
now, .not  to-morrow,  is  the  accepted  period  ft  r  preparation, 
the  day  of  salvation.  Delay  is  dangerous.  How  many 
thousands  of  our  soldiers  have  died  of  disease  since  the  be- 
ginning of  the  war  ? — five  to  one  that  have  died  by  bullets  or 
weapons  of  the  enemy. 

"  I  cannot  fed  the  danger  as  you  represent  it."  But  God's 
Book  so  declares  it :  this  would  mot  be  full  of  warnings  unless 
it  were  dangerous  to  live  in  a  state  of  irreconciliation  to  God 
and  unfit  to  die.  Repent  and  believe  the  Gospel,  is  a  portion 
of  the  first  Gospel  sermon  ever  delivered. 

Haste,  0  sinner — now  return, 

Stay  not  for  the  morrow's  sun — 

Leat  thy  lamp  should  cease  to  burn 

Ere  salvation's  work  is  done. 

V 
"  My  conscience  does  not  condemn  me."     It  may  be  asleep, 

but  it  will  wake  up  by  and  by  when  too  late,  when  delirium 


0G2SYIIIISA.TI0N  IX   A   XENT. 


has  seized  you.  or  you  are  too  feeble  io  militate  on  eternal 
tilings;  it  will  awake  refreshed  by  its  slumbers,  give  you 
dreadful  agony,  and  the  foretaste  of  unutterable  despair. 

u  My  mother  used  to  pray  for  me,"when  a  child,  but  she  is 
now  in  heaven."  TI113  should  encourago  you  to  pray  for 
yourself,  that  you  way  reach  the  same  happy  place.  Begin 
to-day,  soldier, — thousands  are  praying  throughout  the  land 
for  soldiers.  Pray  before  you  lay  down  this  Conversation  in 
a  Tent,  this  word  of  advice  and  warning.  Pray  that  God 
may  give  you  a  new  heart,  a  new  taste — that  you  may  feel 
the  danger,  the  imminent  peril  of  living  a  foe  to  your  Maker. 

I  saw  a  soldier  on  his  dying  bed.  He  was  tenderly  nursed 
by  mother,  sisters  and  other  friends;  but  their  efforts  were  in 
vain  to  save  his  valuable  life.  A  few  days  prior  to  dissolution, 
delirium  seized  his  brain.  What  a  sad  sight!  He  xnutrtered 
incoherent  sentences  about  the  camps,  the  batul: field,  and 
cars  in  which  he  came  home ;  but  not  a  word  about  Jesus  or 
hi3  soul.  As  he  had  given  that  no  concern  in  life,  as  his 
friends  understood,  it  is  feared  all  is  lost.  lie  was  brave 
amidst  the  showers  of  bullets  and  grape,  and  escaped  death. 
But  disease,  soon  after  a  mighty  contest,  accomplished  what 
the  weapons  of  the  enemy  could  not.  Such  may  be  your  end, 
and  such  the  instrument  used  to  stop  your  pulse  and  chill  the 
Warm  current  of  your  life.  Believe  in  Jesus,  repent  of  sin, 
become  a  soldier  of  the  cross;  then  you  will  be  prepared  to 
live  usefully  and  die  happily. 


Ga.  Bib.  &  Col.  Society,  Macon,  Ga.  No.  13, 


JOIIN  L.  JENKINS  A  CO.,  PRINTERS,  COTTON  AVENUE,  MACON,  OA. 


Hollinger  Corp. 
pH8.5 


